Engine: B5234: V70 T5 No Oil Pressure problem

[saturnfive]

That was interesting! Not a simple job to remove the sump and made pretty unpleasant by the high wind whipping oil drips and rags everywhere. Definitely on the V70 T5 with B5234T3 engine you don't need to raise the engine off the mount and it wouldn't help much either.

The tricky bolts are the ones by the timing belt and I had to open up the wheel bay to get two of them off with a spanner. The fuel line is a real pain. I'm really not sure what to do about it for the refit. I only just managed to squeeze it off but it certainly won't go back with the line where it is. I dismounted a clamp up in the front but can't see how to move the line down into the small gap in the mount to gain more space.

I think I'll have to drain the coolant and dismount the oil cooler because it simply won't tie back far enough. There's another hard line in the way behind it which looks like some sort of cooler. If it can't be moved then there will not be enough space to put the sump back and keep a clean sealant gasket.

The engine and sump are pretty badly sludged up. Thick deposits in the crankcase and sump. Looks pretty poor to be honest and I'm not sure if its a good idea to remove some of it or not. Dislodged but not completely removed will just mean more of it running round the system instantly blocking up the screen on the pickup pipe.

The pickup pipe looks like its going to need soaking in some sort of cleaner to clear it. Same for the sump to remove the bits sloshing about in the bottom. The seals are the original red ones rather than green so this is the first time from new this has been opened.

A day of cleaning in order and see if I cant work out how that fuel pipe is supposed to move.

[b1mcp]

Looking on the bright side, that oil pick up does look pretty bunged up, so that is probably the solution to your issue. Looks like regular oil changes have been neglected, or used Asda Smart Price oil.

Keep going, sounds like good progress.

[saturnfive]

This engine is clearly very badly gunked up. So much carbon in the crankshaft casing and in the sump. I've semi cleaned the sump by immersion in kerosene for 24 hrs but it's still a bit cruddy in the places I cant get to under the stupid baffle plates. Why are there fixed plates that mean you cant clean it??? Machine screws surely! They look to be crimped on somehow and so the only option would be to simply cut them off with a grinder. Tempted.

I reckon this is a really stupid design. The oil pickup pipe took two hours to clean properly under the tap after 24 in kerosene such that no more carbon dropped out of the screen. It all builds up there and get's trapped. Perhaps if the car has new oil every year as a fragile machine it doesn't suffer issues but honestly who builds an engine this sensitive? Such poor design. IMO the pickup screen is way too small. That size should be the filters job that can easily be changed if things go wrong. The pickup job should be to stop large chunks (metallic) and let the easily changeable filter do the fine stuff. No carbon chunks can even make it to the filter because they get trapped in the fine pickup screen. Great job volvo! As soon as I put this back together, carbon deposits in the crankcase that are now dry WILL drop down into the sump and bung it all up again! It's such a joke of a design.

I'm considering the need to run an oil additive that is designed to gently clear out hydraulic lifters slowly eating carbon deposits and just accept the need to change oil every 500 miles or so for the next 5k. Essentially any carbon deposits that ever flake off will never even make it to the filter to be changed in a service. They just block up the super fine pickup screen and eventually block it. Totally retarded. The pickup screen is far too small a mesh. Surely the pump can handle large bits of sludge through it and shed them into the filter? Oher cars certainly do and that's the normal way of doing things.

Anyway, not very happy but cleaned the best I can and it's even still dirty to be honest after 10 hours work but I've got to put it all back together and hope. Probably going to be the PCV next as there was emulsion up the square hole which I have completely cleaned out. Probably above the trap is pretty full and should be changed.

Prior to starting this job I had negative pressure on the filler cap and dipstick which means it's still breathing correctly if my understanding is correct. However, that means that it will draw down more of that gunk under negative pressure straight into the sump as soon as I start the engine. Hmmm.

Does anyone have any recommendations on an oil additive to clean the engine? I've done two engine flushes leading up to this sump drop that you run for 20 minutes at idle before an oil change but I'm looking for a product I can run for a few months to gently clean it and then change the oil.

Cheers

[saturnfive]

Here's a thought. Will coke clean the carbon off the sump? Not sure if the acid in coke will damage the aluminium. Its so dirty in the quiet areas that it might be worth a go if it won't do damage.

[crk]

A thought on cleaning the carbon, I had a similar problem on a V8 range rover a few years ago and it was a lot worse; the only thing I found to move it all was continually brushing on and cleaning off nitromors paint stripper. Did look a lot better after some effort.

[saturnfive]

Got it sitting in coke, haha. Think it's unlikely to work but giving it a go. Will have to remove the pipe inside the sump between the oil cooler to the filter housing and replace those seals. I'm assuming that those are the extra seals in the o ring kit. Only one of them seems to have a removeable clamp so not sure how the other one frees up.

[saturnfive]

Coke didn't seem to shift much more of the grime so gave up on that idea and gave it a good run under the hot tap. That seemed to clear out a little bit more and going to get the air line on it tomorrow. Whilst sitting full of water I noticed a leak where the pipe from the filter housing bolts to the edge of the pan where it goes to the oilcooler. Opened the bolt up and the rubber in there looks pretty weak so replaced that one.

The question is though, should I put a gasket in there as well as the new rubber from the ones that came in the kit? Or just bolt it down? My kit comes from a firm called professional parts Sweden because the dealership couldn't seem to help with ordering the kit (useless) so I had to buy aftermarket. The kit includes 4 gaskets that don't seem to have a use in the sump as well as the o rings and seals that do. Seen many people saying the kit seems to have too many bits and not the oil cooler rings which is my experience as well. I purchased them separately in anticipation so not a problem.

I'm just wondering if volvo originally put a bit of the liquid gasket around the flange inside the sump or if they just let the rubber do the job. Would they now put the gasket? The gasket would need trimming so I think it's wrong but perhaps the sealant might be what you're supposed to do.

[saturnfive]

Success!

Finally all back together.

Here are my thoughts on it all.

Firstly, It's important to put the car on axel stands not ramps. You need to get the right hand wheel off and access through the wheel well into the timing belt area.

Reasons for this are that two of the sump bolts are obscured by the engine mount and only accessible from the side with a spanner unless you have magic tools. Also, although the vida and Haynes manual description say that you need to release the fuel line clamp from the sump, they don't mention that there is another clamp up in the front a little that will give you a tiny amount more movement in the fuel line which allows you to push it into the gap in the engine mount. (see picture above for the pipe and gap) This is easily removed through the wheel bay.

I cable tied the horrible fuel line down into the gap in the mount but not where the cable tie will hit the sump.

I also ended up removing the aft bolt for the transmission mount to give me a single mm extra play. Crazy but it helped.

The actual sump removal was not too bad. Essentially I dragged it out past the fuel line etc. But putting it back with a wet liquid gasket is not such an easy task.

I finally worked out the pattern of rotation and twists to get it in and out. Basically it is two stage. Lifting up the sump you want to point it into the area of the fuel line and be above the engine mount lip that interferes. You also want to rotate about 20degs to point down at the back of the car. This just allows it to clear the transmission case and fit the pickup inside. With some wiggling it can then rise up to being nearly level but not yet touching the block.

Then it slips up slightly to the right as the curve inside the case slides on the curved pipe of the pickup pipe. You will know what I mean when you see it. At this point you are not quite horizontal but it does slide and suddenly you are horizontal and can push it the last bit into place.

Hideous job and I'm glad it's done.

Car seems to be running fine now. No noise at all. I presume the original whining at startup was the VVT running a little low on oil but thankfully it all seems happy now.

Will be looking to put an oil additive in to gently release hydraulic lifters etc and hopefully it will gently move some of the deposits into the filter. Any large lumps will be blocked in the screen which seem crazy to me but hey ho. I want them in the filter. Will have to change oil every 1000 miles for a bit I reckon but should get this back from where it was.

Compressed air really helped clean out the sump. After it was dried on the radiator the carbon is pretty weak. Blasting it with the airline really got rid of the big stuff.

Many thanks to all that commented. Especial thanks to b1mcp. Much appreciated.

Looks like the PCV will have to be next. Although not acting up currently it must be nearly 90% full after seeing the state of the bottom end. Thanks again guys and good luck to any considering this job. It's not a quick one but pleasing to have got done.

[b1mcp]

Well done, and good write up.

I've bookmarked this in case I ever need to go there.

[JoeNinety]

Mr Muscle Oven Cleaner is good for decarbonising things (folks use it on their gummed up EGR valves).

Also good for allow wheel cleaning